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Online Resources for Studying the Bible
Studying the Bible online presents a unique opportunity and a difficult challenge.
The sheer volume of data and tools available to use in Bible study provides us with the ability to dive deeper into the Bible than ever before. Unfortunately, the ease of the internet makes it challenging to ensure the resources we use are high quality.
This list highlights quality resources you can use to study the Bible. The tools are arranged according to the following categories. Simply click on the link to jump to a particular section.
If you'd like to recommend a resource, please send an email to tyler@mybibleschool.com
GENERAL WEBSITES
The following websites offer a great deal of general information about the Bible. You can use them to get acquainted with a particular passage or topic in the Bible.
The Bible Project offers a wide range of great Bible study resources. Their book overview videos provide an excellent starting point for understanding the literary design of biblical books. They also have a long-running podcast, an extensive archive of blog posts, and free "seminary-level" courses on their website.
If you want to work through online courses about the Bible, Biblical Training offers a wide variety of classes taught by well-known scholars. The website describes itself as "broadly evangelical" and many of the scholars are well-respected within the evangelical community.
From the website: "TheTorah.com’s mission is to make academic biblical scholarship accessible and engaging to readers from all backgrounds. We solicit original essays on the Torah portion and holidays from academic scholars whose expertise includes history, archaeology, ancient Near Eastern studies, Egyptology, Semitic languages, textual criticism, and literary approaches."
Many Christian traditions use a lectionary to determine which passages they will preach from each week. Textweek.com is a database of resources for all the passages in the lectionary. It's a great tool to browse if the passage you want to study is also in the lectionary.
Workingpreacher.org is similar to textweek.com. It provides great resources for lectionary passages. They have scholars write short devotionals about each passage. It provides a good reference point for how you might interact with a particular passage.
PODCASTS
Podcasts can be a great source of information on the Bible. If you follow shows produced by qualified biblical scholars, you will be surprised how much you can learn during your commute.
From the website: "This weekly podcast connects you to NT (Tom) Wright's thought and theology by allowing you to ask the questions."
From the website: "The Bema Podcast is a walk-through of the context of the Bible and the Text itself, as well as surrounding history. We deconstruct our common readings of the Bible and attempt to reconstruct them through the lens of historical context."
From the website: "The BibleProject podcast features detailed conversations between Tim and Jon and occasional guests, inviting you to explore the biblical theology behind each animated video and series we create."
The On Script podcast interviews biblical scholars with a wide range of interests and expertise.
Similar to the On Script podcast, the On Script: Biblical World podcast interviews biblical scholars. In contrast to the main podcast, the Biblical World podcast focuses on the historical and cultural context of the Bible.
RESEARCH WEBSITES
The following websites are geared more for those who want to do some serious digging. While these resources cannot replace access to a quality, modern library, they provide a better place to begin than with a simple Google search.
Academia is like a "social" platform for research. Scholars from a wide variety of disciplines can create profiles and put their research on academia. While there is a paid option for the program, you can find a lot of information on the website for free. Make sure to do some research on the source of the papers you read.
This database provides digital access to a wide range of public domain works. For example, you can read through many of the works from the Church Fathers.
The Directory of Open Access Journals offers uses the ability to search through the archives of journals that are free to access. While it may take some digging, this is a valuable resource if you are looking to perform more thorough research.
If you simply "Google" a question about the Bible, you are likely to find a website that is optimized for your search but does not adhere to the highest standards of accuracy or research. Using Google Scholar, however, proves a much better method for getting quality information. For example, if you search for "Genesis Commentary," you will find excerpts from many commentaries. While you won't be able to access the whole book, you may be surprised at how much you can read without ever purchasing the book. You can also use Google scholar to search for data dealing with more specific questions.
SCHOLAR'S WEBSITES
Some scholars maintain websites that provide access to some of their work for free.
Marc Brettler a renowned Hebrew Bible professor at Duke University. His website is a treasure trove of resources for learning to study the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.
Michael Heiser is a Hebrew Bible scholar. His work endeavors to provide "serious academic content for understanding the Bible in its own context, unfiltered by creeds and traditions — but made decipherable to those who don’t live in the ivory tower. In other words, I view it my duty as a biblical scholar to make scholarship comprehensible to the interested non-specialist."
Craig Keener is a New Testament scholar at Asbury Seminary. He has written extensively on the historical background of the New Testament. His website provides a large amount of work on the New Testament.
N.T. Wright is a New Testament scholar at the University of St. Andrews. He has two websites. One of them offers online courses for purchase. The other contains a lot of material for free (e.g., lectures, blogs, etc.)
Youtube Searches
Youtube can be a tricky space to navigate. Some of the best produced videos are not backed up by quality research. Some of the worst-produced videos are gold mines for learning about the Bible. Rather than list out channels, here are a number of scholars you should search for on Youtube. You can find a large number of lectures
John M. Barclay
Michael Bird
Craig Blomberg
Gordon Fee
Christine Hayes
Richard B. Hays
Carmen Imes
Craig Keener
Amy-Jill Levine
Tim Mackie
Carol Newsom
Sandra Richter
Brent Strawn
John Walton
N.T. Wright
This list is just to get you started. Youtube is a wonderful resource as long as you search for credible sources and scholars.
Specialty Websites
The internet is filled with lots of data you would never know about. There are many wonderful "open-source" projects that aim to provide access to digital archives. Here is a sample of some unique websites for studying the Bible.
You can actually view many of the Dead Sea Scrolls online.
If you're interested in ancient manuscripts, the Digital Vatican Library is a fascinating website to explore. It hosts digital scans of ancient copies of the Bible.
This website allows you to search through photographs of archaeological sites.
Sefaria is a website that hosts digital versions of ancient Jewish texts. The site includes the TaNaKh, the Mishnah, the Talmud, the Midrash and much more.
Language Resources
If you know biblical languages or want to study them, here are some helpful websites.
This playlist walks through Bill Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek.
If you know Aramaic, check out this digital lexicon. It's an ongoing project.
As the name implies, this website provides a daily post on New Testament Greek. It's a great resource for those who already know the language.
As the name implies, this website provides a daily post on biblical Hebrew. It's a great resource for those who already know the language.
This is a free transliteration and translation of the Ugaritic texts.
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